Turn one meal into three

Ever wanted to be Jesus? Then follow this recipe and turn one meal into three. Freeze the basic sauce in individually tupperwared portions and adapt as you will. Make sure you don’t reheat the sauce more than once, to avoid food poisoning. Jesus didn’t get food poisoning.

Basic sauce

Makes 4-6 portions

Ingredients

olive oil 3 tbsp

onions 3, finely chopped

garlic 3 cloves, crushed and finely chopped

minced beef roughly 1kg

mushrooms 1 pack, chopped finely

tomatoes 2 x 400g tins, pre-chopped

tomato purée 1 tbsp

red wine a slosh

stock cube 1, dissolved in a pint of hot water

salt and pepper to taste

Method for basic sauce

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the onions and garlic and cook gently to soften for 5 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the beef to brown it. Keep stirring. When beef is all brown, add mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato purée, wine, stock and seasoning. Put on lid and simmer for 20 minutes, then cook without lid on for 20 minutes to reduce.

Adapt for bolognese

Extra ingredients

any pasta

bacon rashers 2, cut into strips

oregano or basil ½ tsp per portion

Method for bolognese

Cook the bacon in a pan, then reheat the defrosted basic sauce with the herbs. Serve with pasta.

Adapt for chilli con carne

Extra ingredients

rice

kidney beans 1 tin, drained

cumin or paprika or Tabasco or chilli powder to taste

Method for chili con carne

Reheat the defrosted basic sauce in a pan with the kidney beans and whichever optional extra spices. Serve with rice.

Adapt for enchiladas

Extra ingredients

paprika or Tabasco or chilli powder to taste

tortilla wraps

salsa 1 pot

cheddar grated

sour cream

guacamole

Method for enchiladas

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Reheat the defrosted basic sauce in a pan with the spice. Fill tortilla wraps with a small amount of the basic sauce, salsa and sour cream and place in a baking dish. Spread any leftover salsa over the wraps with some grated cheese, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Serve with the remaining sour cream and guacamole.